The Nutcracker
by BelleBasBleue
Summary: It's Christmas Eve, and there is a Christmas party going on in Victorian France where a young Marinette is celebrating with all her friends and family for the holidays. When she meets a little Nutcracker, her life becomes all the more interesting, and she is enveloped into a wonderful winter wonderland. Mostly cute, little fluff for Christmas.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.**

Marinette was dressed in her best pink linens and was bouncing excitedly in front of her small mirror as her maid was finishing pinning her hair back. "I am so excited, Tikki! I can't believe I have to wait a whole three hours to see Grandfather's new treat that he made this year!" With the warm hand on Marinette's shoulder, Tikki was able to persuade Mari to sit down in her chair and stop bouncing.

"Just wait, little one. The time will come before you know it. But first we need to finish getting you ready so you can get to the party on time," Tikki explained patiently. Marinette nodded and sat still; obedient. Tikki finished Marinette's look off with a bright pink bow and sent Mari down the stairs. As soon as Tikki was out of sight, Marinette slid down the stair banister to meet the rest of her friends who were waiting impatiently for the party to start. Marinette linked her arm through Alya's and joined her in trying to peek through the cracks in the door to where the party would be taking place. "What do you think Grandfather's surprise will be?" Mari whispered in Alya's ear.

"I bet it will be a whole army of elephants, or maybe Joanne of Arc with her swashbuckling army!" Alya theorized. "Wouldn't that be great Mari?" Marinette nodded in agreement. "Or maybe he has a whole horde of monkeys that he has collected!"

"That would be impossible for Master Fu to bring monkeys to France. You know how much money that would take?" One of Marinette's friends, Max asked, adding to their conversation. "It takes about.."

"Does it really matter?" asked Kim, hitting Max on the shoulder. "The only thing that counts is how fast the monkeys can swing. Do you think it would be possible Max for me to beat them in a swinging race?"

"Well if my calculations are correct," Max went on, and Marinette and Alya quietly made their way to the group of girls who were admiring Rose's work on Juleka's amethyst dress.

"Wow, did you really make that Rose?" Mylene asked.

"Yep, I sure did, with a little help from Marinette of course," Rose added, smiling at Marinette from across the circle. Marinette blushed.

"Oh it was nothing, but the color does really suit you, Juleka." Marinette complimented her.

"Thanks," Juleka whispered, tucking her bangs behind her ears.

Monsieur Dupain stuck his head through the crack in the door and smiled at the children, who were still flocked around the door. "Are you ready, children?" He asked excitedly. All of the attention in the hallway turned to him, and they all nodded their heads vigorously. He laughed and opened the double doors to a ballroom with a flourish. "Merry Christmas, little ones!"

All of the children gasped as the magical wonderland sparkled in front of their eyes like little gumdrops. The doors had opened up to a large ballroom with a great big fir tree that was as wide and tall as a giant. There were popcorn strands circling the tree with little bits of tinsel covering every inch of the tree. Scattered across the fir tree's branches were little dollies, candy canes, and toy soldiers. Beneath the tree was a plethora of brightly wrapped Christmas presents for everyone in the room as well as a small animatronic train circling the base of it. All of the children in the room rushed straight to the presents and started unwrapping them or passing them out. Alya got a new notebook with a few new ink bottles and pens, which she cherished dearly. Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Sabrina got little dollies to play with, while Alix and Kim got a pair of roller skates. Max got a counting game, and the rest of the children in the room got similar to Marinette's friends. Marinette's enemy, Chloe, got a thousand new dolls and dresses, as per usual, but also a kiss from her father, which Marinette could tell meant more to her than any of her presents. The only things Marinette got was a candy cane from the tree and a notebook to write down her fashion ideas in. Other than that she took more enjoyment from giving her parents some of her own hand-made scarves.

The party was in full swing now. The kids were playing games like dominoes, and tiddlywinks while the adults were talking and eating finger sandwiches in groups. Soon enough Marinette and Alya were sitting contentedly in a corner looking at the new inks that Alya got, instead of playing games, to take a break. They were analyzing the new gold ink when Grandfather Fu came up behind Marinette and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Merry Christmas, my dear Mari," he whispered as he handed Marinette a long box that was wrapped in red and black spotted fabric. Marinette hugged him, and wished him a Merry Christmas as well, then sat back down with Alya and carefully opened her package. Inside the delicately wrapped box was a small little nutcracker. Each curve of the nutcracker was clearly made with lots of care. His little suit was painted with the richest black paint with gold accents and a red sash. Attached to his sash was a realistic little scabbard. His eyes were beautiful bright green like a fresh, fir tree. His hair was a soft flop of blonde that stuck out, unruly from his black cap. A delicate black, cloth mask covered the skin from his cheeks to his forehead making his eyes stick out even more. He looked like he could take on any army. Marinette stroked the little soldier's head with the utmost care and kissed the top of it.

"It's so beautiful, Mari," Alya commented, smiling at her friend. "I believe that you are a favorite of Master Fu. I am almost sure that you will become his apprentice when you come of age."

"Please, that's as probable as living in a world of dancing candy," Marinette responded as she stroked the face of her nutcracker.

"What. Is. That?" came a snide voice as a shadow covered Alya's and Marinette's corner. Marinette looked up and saw a bow covered Chloe staring disgustedly down at the nutcracker in Marinette's arms. Beside her stood her best friend, Sabrina, shaking her head with her hands on her hips.

"It's a nutcracker, Chloe," Marinette replied, trying to hide her hatred. She had to at least act nice on Christmas Eve, or try to. "Grandfather Fu gave it to me. Isn't it beautiful?" Marinette held up the nutcracker for Chloe to see.

Chloe quickly snatched it from Marinette, holding the nutcracker by the head. "It's disgusting! NO wonder the old man gave it to you. It's so poorly made it doesn't even do its job!" To portray this fact, Chloe shoved a nut into the toy's mouth and used the lever on the nutcracker's back to make his mouth chomp on the nut. Before Marinette's eyes the precious wood of his teeth and chin were starting to crack.

"Chloe stop that! You're hurting him!" Marinette cried out as she tried to grab her nutcracker back.

Chloe added a few more cracks to the nutcracker's face before giving it back. "Now it looks just like you, Maritrash! Come on Sabrina, let's go to play with our _gorgeous_ dolls." With that, the tormenters were finally gone and Marinette could slide down to the floor with her nutcracker cradled in her arms.

"He doesn't look so good," Alya commented, staring down at the doll in Marinette's arms. His once shining suit was marked up with little finger prints and specks of dirt all over it. The nutcracker's scabbard was askew on his waist and the lever on his back was wrenched up too high. Marinette's eyes traveled to his face and saw that the fresh slacker around his mouth was cracked as well as some of the paint. One of his teeth was chipped and there was a fine crack running from his lower teeth to the end of his chin because of the nut that was still in his mouth. Marinette daintily grabbed her handkerchief and tied it around his head so his chin could be safely secured.

"There you go, little fella," Marinette whispered. "You're all fixed up." She kissed his head, and then got up carefully. In the distance the two girls could hear the background chatter dying down as Grandfather Fu's voice commanding the room. "Come on Alya! Grandfather Fu is starting his show!" The two girls scrambled from their corner to join the crowd as Grandfather Fu opened the first box next to him.

It was a small box tied with silky, purple ribbon. He turned it on its side and tapped the side three times before popping open the lid. The crowd held their breath in anticipation as they watched the box carefully. Slowly, a little animatronic mouse head peeked his head out, who then quickly scuttled to the middle of the table. He was dressed in a little red suit with bright gold buttons and he stood up on his hind legs and did a little dance for the audience. It bowed as he finished and the crowd clapped, but the audience's attention soon turned to two life-size boxes opening up. Out of one came a Harley Quinn girl with vibrant diamonds of color scattered across her dress. She peered around the door of her box to find her companion who was doing the same on his side. Both of the brightly colored animatronics sported white masks that covered their foreheads and cheeks completely. Their cheeks were drawn on as well as long eyelashes circling around the eye cutouts. The male Harley Quinn grasped his partner's hand and led her to an open space. There they spun together in a sprightly waltz. Every spin they made moved them closer and closer to the audience. They pushed the audience back so far, the crowd became a circle around the couple. The male lifted his companion in the air, and with a few twists, the girl was back on the ground with her back facing him. When their dance finally ended, more and more animatronics stepped out of their boxes. Soon all of Grandfather Fu's animatronics were dancing in and around the audience members in time to the music box. In the final act each animatronic brought a small bag of candy to each guest. Even the little mouse, in his dainty suit, gave a bag of treats to a baby in its mother's arms. With that, the dancers bowed and crawled back into their boxes. There was an eruption of laughter and cheers as the audience clapped for an encore. Grandfather Fu bowed to accept the applause, and then soon disappeared.

It was getting late, and the ball was coming to a close. Besides, there would be more celebrations tomorrow, on Christmas Day. The children bid farewell to their parents and scuttled back to their own, respective rooms.

Marinette's maid helped her slip on her night-gown and tucked her into bed. "Sleep well, my child. And goodnight little nutcracker," Tikki whispered to the new doll in Marinette's arms. Tikki smiled. "Get some sleep. Your parents will be up in a few minutes."

"Thank you Tikki!" Marinette chirped sleepily as her eyes started to close. As Marinette drifted off to sleep she felt the kisses of her parents on her cheeks and the comfort of her little soldier in her arms. She slept soundly for a few hours, but was woken up suddenly as a feeling of something missing crept in to her bones. Marinette realized that she had forgotten to give Alya her present, and it was still under the tree. Instead of waiting for the morning, Marinette decided to creep downstairs and get it.

In a pink nightgown and slippers, Marinette crept downstairs with her soldier in her arms for comfort, and a candle in the other for light. It was a few minutes before mid-night, and the whole house was as silent as snow falling. Very carefully, Marinette opened one of the ginormous doors to the ballroom a smidge. She squeezed her little body through the crack and stepped into the dark ballroom with only her candle to light the way. Marinette's eyes scanned the enormous room, and when she spotted the present, she ran towards it. Gathering the present in her arms, Marinette turned to leave, but was stopped by a middle sized man's shadow blocking her path.

Marinette turned around quickly in fear, and almost extinguished her candle. She calmed down as she saw her grandfather behind her. "Oh Grandfather! It's just you." Marinette clasped her chest, trying to recover her breath. Mari stood there, waiting an answer from her beloved grandfather, but he offered none. "Grandfather?" Marinette asked timidly. Grandfather only smirked as he and the room almost seemed to grow.

Marinette gasped in fright as she realized she was the one shrinking. Her beloved nutcracker had disappeared, leaving Marinette alone to fear about how the toys and animatronics in their boxes were growing to be twice her size. When it finally stopped, Marinette was no bigger than a small, baby mouse that was surrounded by all of the toys around the tree. Grandfather Fu was nowhere to be seen; neither was the answer to Marinette's problem.

* * *

 **Hey Readers! Here is my two part Christmas Special. I felt like just writing a simple story; one without much of a plot. I hope you liked reading this nice little short story. The second, and last part will be published tomorrow. Please leave a comment, follow, or favorite if you wish. Hope you have a great holiday with your family. Until I write again, TTFN!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. It all belongs to its respective owners.**

Instead of just staying in one place, Marinette decided to get used to her surroundings and take a good look around. Even though she was quite small, she found it quite fun size to be. All of the dolls, candy canes, and soldiers that were once the size of her hand were now the size of her, or taller. Grandfather Fu's little mouse animatronic peeked out of its box and bowed before Marinette. He had asked her for a dance, which she accepted graciously. The two twirled around like the two jester and Harley Quinn dolls earlier at the party, and Marinette giggled in delight. The dance stopped all too soon as a large thunder of paw-thumps could be heard from inside the walls all around Marinette and the mouse. The mouse stood stock still with his nose stiff in the air as he sniffed for danger. As the footsteps got closer, the little mouse jumped into his box, leaving Marinette alone with only her candle at her feet.

Around the corner of the tree came an enormous shadow that towered over Marinette. Marinette was so scared she could do nothing but shake in her slippers as what had first sounded like a few footsteps, now sounded like a whole army of scuttling and whispering rodents. As Marinette closely watched the corner of the tree, a dirty and slimy hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her close to the stinky and matted fur of a rat. Marinette cried out and tried to get out of the rat's firm grasp, but he only continued to sneer. Rat hand after rat hand started grabbing her, and soon Marinette was hardly touching the ground. She tried to kick out with her legs, or punch some of the noses, but nothing worked. "Help!" she screeched as rat fingers slid off of her mouth. "Someone! Anyone! HELP!" Just as the thought of biting one of the filthy rat's noses off came into her brain, a trumpet blared. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette was able to see a troop of toys come marching out of their boxes, with her faithful nutcracker leading.

Marinette grinned deviously, and kicked out with her legs, flinging many rats back. The horde of rats scrambled to take a hold of her once again, but her candy and toy army reached her first.

Marinette's nutcracker pulled her safely out of the rat's hands, and handed her back into the midst of the toy army. The nutcracker did not speak, but only lifted Marinette's chin up and pressed a thumb to her cheek. Marinette smiled and felt instantly comforted. The nutcracker, behind his black mask, winked at her, then charged towards the rats.

All of the toys around Marinette charged behind the nutcracker with all sorts of battle cries. A motherly china doll laid a hand on Marinette's shoulders and led her to a quiet corner, nonetheless Marinette wanted to stay with her nutcracker so she tried to get away, but the china doll insisted. She led Marinette to a soft bench under the gigantic Christmas tree and started tending to the bites on Marinette's skin. As the china doll was wrapping her wrist, Marinette secretly looked around her, looking for anything that might help her get into the battle. She couldn't stand another moment of waiting for the battle to end from a safe distance. From the corner of her eye Marinette saw a small yoyo that would perfectly fit inside her hand in her shrunken form. While the china doll's back was turned, Marinette leapt out of her seat and made a dash for the yoyo. As soon as she had it in her grasp, Marinette turned the corner and watched the battle from afar, analyzing what she should do next.

The battle field was a mix of brightly colored toys, with candy canes as swords, and rotten mice lunging forward with sharp needles in their paws. Her black clad nutcracker was at the front of the toy troop, as Marinette had suspected, battling the king of rats who was covered in a cloak of doll hair and puppy fur. It appeared that her side was winning at the moment, but Marinette could hear the footsteps of reinforcements coming. _I need to do something now if we're going to win this thing_. Marinette grasped her yoyo tightly in her hand and started climbing the Christmas tree to get a good vantage point. Halfway up the tree, Marinette could see clearly what was going on below. Far enough from the floor she could see everything, but not so far that the people would look like ants.

The toys were slowly being beat back, and Marinette looked frantically around her; looking for anything that would help their case. Her vision narrowed, and the glass bulbs beside her started to glow. To her right, the candy canes glowed, then a beam on the ceiling. Next, some rats at the back of the army were highlighted because they were falling over ornaments from the tree and were disappearing in a puff of smoke. The last thing that glowed in Marinette's vision was the nutcracker. Marinette could see the plan clearly. With a stroke of luck, Marinette's nutcracker looked towards her, and she relayed her plan to him quickly with hand motions. He nodded, and sent a few soldiers to go help her with her plan as he returned his attention to the rat king.

Three toy soldiers made their way to Marinette, and she explained her plan once again. "Alright I want you guys to start throwing these ornaments at the rats; as many as possible. I'm going to use my yoyo to swing myself down beside the rat king where I'm going to hopefully hit him before he notices me, but I doubt that part's going to work out as well," Marinette trailed off as she got her yoyo ready. "Got that?" she asked the soldiers.

They shrugged and started picking up ornaments. "Ok. If you're sure, Miss."

"I am," Marinette reassured them. Since they still looked reluctant to follow her orders, Marinette tried explaining further. "Do you realize we're losing currently? I mean if that's not working, what will? This plan requires someone crazy to believe in it, and since I got shrunk only a few hours ago, I've got that part covered. You guys just have to go with it, ok?" This time they nodded confidently.

"Ready when you are," They responded.

Marinette nodded, and then turned to throw the yoyo towards the ceiling beam. The yoyo streamed through the air and caught on to the beam, swinging around it a few times. Marinette pulled the string taut and took a deep breath. "Ready?" she asked, tentatively.

"Ready when you are, miss," the soldiers repeated, with their makeshift bombs in hand.

"Alright…3,…2,….1!" Marinette pushed off of the branch and held onto the string of the yoyo as she sailed through the air. Behind her, the soldiers were throwing the ornaments and doing quite a bit of damage. Just as Marinette was above the nutcracker and the rat king, she let go of the yoyo and dropped down fast. With a stroke of luck, Marinette landed right on top of the rat king. Before anyone could think, Marinette plunged a candy cane into the rat's shoulder, making him scream a high pitched squeak. In the blink of an eye, the rat king had disappeared in a puff of smoke, as well as the rest of the army. All of the members of the toy army stood in their spots for a minute, and then broke out in cheers for Marinette. The nutcracker smiled down at Marinette, and she blushed. "I couldn't have done it without you, my nutcracker," she whispered. She stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss onto his cheek. A little bit of rouge spread over the nutcracker's face, and he hid behind his hand in embarrassment. Marinette was just about to touch his shoulder when he was engulfed into a storm of snowflakes. Lights flashed from within, and Marinette had to shield her eyes from the brightness.

When she opened her eyes, there was a young, human boy standing in front of her. He was in a suit of bluish-white, and his shoes were as black as obsidian. His skin was as pale as the snow, but had a healthy glow to it. Everything about this boy was foreign to Marinette, except for his eyes. His green, tree-like eyes stood out just like they had from behind the black mask of the nutcracker.

Marinette's fingers tentatively traced the curve of his face, and she smiled. "My nutcracker," she whispered. He nodded.

"I am, My Lady." He bowed slightly. "I want to thank you for saving me. I'm not sure how long I would have lasted if I had to stay a nutcracker for much longer. I am forever indebted to you." He took one of Marinette's hands and kissed the backs of them.

"You're welcome, but I really didn't do too much. I just observed a pattern." Marinette added shyly. "What is your name, by the way?"

"I am Adrien, and you are, my lady?"

"Marinette. I'm Marinette." Adrien smiled at her, and then his eyes grew as he got excited about something.

"Tell me, Lady Marinette, have you ever gone to the Sugar Plum Kingdom?" Adrien asked.

Marinette shook her head, "No, never."

Adrien started to pull Marinette along with him through the crowd of toys celebrating. "Then let me take you there. The queen is my mother, and I bet she would love to meet you." Adrien stopped for a second and looked into Marinette's eyes. "Unless you don't want to."

Marinette shook her head. "No, no; I really want to. I would love to go." Adrien beamed, and led Marinette through the rest of the crowd and to the large windows of the ballroom. With a twirl, Adrien pulled a doll's coat off of a rack and hung it around her shoulders. "Be careful to stay warm; it's cold out there." Adrien pulled Marinette a little closer to him as they stepped into the snowy outdoors.

It was blistering cold outside, but Marinette hardly noticed. The night was clear and every single star could be seen twinkling for the whole world to see. Snow was falling, making noises like that of a music box. Marinette and Adrien's footsteps made little hoof prints in the snow behind them. Soon enough, Marinette had lost her way, but she didn't care. She knew she was safe as long as she was with Adrien.

"We're almost there," Adrien whispered in her ear as they entered a grove under some snow covered trees. Marinette ducked under a particularly large pine branch, and when she looked up again, she immediately stopped and stared. In front of her stood a beautifully, gilded ice kingdom. The moon reflected off the surface of the castle just right so she could almost see her reflection. The castle itself was charming with several, icy turrets, and all different kinds of windows placed every which way. Around the palace was a little garden and forest. Magical plants, which Marinette had never seen before, grew in a well-managed garden. Large, candy-like trees soared up above the beautiful little plants. From the branches came little floating flowers that winked different colors into the night. Around all of this was a little stone wall that was connected to a little drawbridge that covered a silky, white brook. If Marinette looked closer, she could see little snowflake fairies taking peeks at her and the nutcracker turned boy.

"Do you like it?" Adrien asked, tentatively.

Marinette looked at him with wide-eyed wonder. "I haven't seen anything more beautiful in my life!" She beamed up at him, and pulled him towards the opening in the stone wall, excitedly. Before they had hardly made it to the icy brook, the doors from the inner palace burst open. A dainty, middle-aged woman dressed in a sweeping blueish-white dress, came dancing out towards them.

At first, the woman seemed to have the idea that they were normal guests, until she came closer to them. She stopped suddenly and put a soft, yet slightly wrinkled hand to her mouth as she gasped, silently. "Adrien?" she whispered.

Adrien smiled beside Marinette, and she could feel him sag slightly beside her. "Mum…" he whispered back.

"My son!" she cried. She picked up her skirts in her hands and ran towards them. "Adrien! My boy? Are you finally home; are you finally here to stay?"

"I am, mum" Adrien's eyes started to crinkle and he let go of Marinette and fell into his mother's arms. "I'm here to stay, Mum; I am here to stay."

Marinette smiled happily at the reunion and hugged her cloak closer to herself as she enjoyed the happy scene from afar.

Adrien's mum pulled back from the hug, and cupped Adrien's face in her hands before kissing the top of his head. Her eyes then traveled to Marinette, who smiled weakly. "And who might this young girl be?" she asked, kindly.

"This is Marinette, Mum. She is the one that broke my curse," Adrien explained. Adrien's mum let go of Adrien long enough to pull Marinette into a hug.

"It's great to meet you, Marinette. I don't know how I could repay you for breaking my son's curse?" Adrien's mum said.

"Oh, you don't need to repay me for anything," replied a blushing Marinette. "I didn't really know anything about his curse. I just kind of helped because I wanted to. I don't need to be repaid."

"Very well, dear. But I must ask you to stay at least for a night here to join in with the celebration of bringing the prince home," Adrien's mum pleaded.

"Prince?!" Marinette blurted out; surprised, but Adrien's mum was already disappearing into the palace. "Prince?!" she asked, incredulously as she turned towards Adrien.

Adrien rubbed the back of his nick. "Yeah, forgot to mention that one little thing," he murmured. "I didn't think it was that important."

Marinette placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not, but I never, not in a million years, dreamed of saving a prince, much less meeting one."

"Well you're looking at one now," Adrien replied cheekily. "Shall we?" He asked, pointing towards the palace.

"We shall," Marinette answered, placing a hand on his elbow as he led them into the palace.

It was even prettier on the inside, and possibly even bigger than it had looked on the outside. Marinette had walked into a room that had two enormous staircases leading upstairs, downstairs, and even sideways. Adrien led her thought several more rooms, which she quickly tried to commit to memory. Each room was a different color or theme, which made Mari want to spend all of her life here. The last room they stopped in was a ballroom that had two thrones at the head of it. This ballroom was very much like the one at home, but instead of being made up of wallpaper and wood, it was made up of ice crystals and frozen dewdrops. Marinette never wanted to leave.

Adrien led Marinette to the thrones, and they both sat down in one of them. Around them was a flurry of activity as everyone tried to get ready for the surprise celebration, but they all did it with a smile on their faces. Their prince was finally home.

Soon enough the ballroom became full of magical guests, from fawns to giants, and Adrien's mother sidled up to the front, beside Marinette and Adrien.

"My friends, family, and neighbors!" She called. "I am happy to announce that our Prince, Adrien, has finally come home!" She paused as the crowd erupted in cheers. As the room grew quieter, Adrien's mother began again. "Adrien has finally come home, but he has come home with his savior, Miss Marinette. Please help me in welcoming them back into our home," she finished. Little fairies rose from the audience and spun around Marinette, then Adrien's head giving them little kisses. Marinette giggled, as did Adrien.

The crowd settled in their seats, and the lights in the hall started to dim as a show began. Everyone who had been in the audience walked to the center of the ballroom to dance for Marinette and Adrien. There were Arabian dances done by genies, Russian dances done by a little Russian circus, and little nature dances done by the animal folk. A charming dance was done by all sorts of candy, and the giants did a dainty, little ballet piece. It was growing close to the morning as the dances started to end, and Marinette was growing tired, but she was still very excited by every dance. Adrien winked at her and held her hand through most of the songs, whispering little facts or jokes into her ear about the acts.

The final dance was a dance for the fairies, headed by Adrien's mother. They were dressed all in flower petals, and they all hovered over the floor as they danced daintily upon the air. It was such a nice way to end a magical evening. The room grew hazy as Marinette clapped, and she decided to close her eyes and rest her head against Adrien's shoulder.

The next thing she knew she was back in her own bed; waking up on Christmas morning, and saw sunlight streaming though her window onto her pink linens on her bed. She was her old size again, and she woke up with a start. She looked wildly around for her prince, or the dancers, or even the kind mother, but none could be found. Only the nutcracker with a broken face was in her arms. A tear slid out of her eyes as she realized the magical place she had visited was just a dream. _Could it have been a dream after all?_ Marinette wondered. She opened her eyes and looked again into the Nutcracker's eyes. The first thing she noticed was that there were in fact no cracks in his face and he looked as good as new. Marinette smiled happily and continued to stare down at the pretty little face covered by the cloth mask, but the more she stared at him, the more she knew that what she had seen the night before was not a dream. The nutcracker winked at her as Tikki, the maid, opened up the door to her bedroom. "Merry Christmas!" Tikki called, and Marinette's smile grew.

"Merry Christmas, Tikki," Marinette replied. "And a very Merry Christmas to you too, Adrien," Marinette added in a whisper, kissing the top of the nutcracker's head. She could have sworn the little nutcracker replied, which made Marinette smile for the rest of her day as she waited with anticipation to go see the magical kingdom once again.

* * *

 **Hey readers! MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope you liked this last chapter. It was a nice and sweet story to write for Christmas. Thank you for those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed. I really love your support. I hope you guys have a wonderful holiday. Please comment, favorite, or follow if you wish. And until I write again, TTFN!**


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